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Two University of Kansas and four Arizona State
University researchers have received an almost $1.6
million grant from the National Science Foundation to
study how certain nutrients affect the development of
disease in humans and animals.
Their research in this area will focus on a new
scientific discipline known as "ecological
stoichiometry." It's an emerging area of research that
looks, in part, at how nutrients interact with disease.
The goal of the study is to discover how an
understanding of nutrition can complement current
medical procedures for dealing with various pathogens,
according to Val Smith, professor of ecology and
evolutionary biology at KU.
"This grant is very exciting," Smith said. "I'm
interested in learning how the chemistry of the world
around us influences its ecology. And I'm very
interested in learning what occurs once an organism
becomes infected. As living beings, we exist in an
environment that potentially may expose us to many
different pathogens."
The grant will cover four years of research, Smith
said. Marilyn Smith, research associate professor in
microbiology, molecular genetics and immunology at the
KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan., and Val Smith's
spouse, is the other KU researcher involved with the
grant.
Val Smith will work with a diverse set of disease
agents that may include experimenting with viruses,
bacteria, protozoa, fungi and even cancer cells. He will
focus on the effects of three principal nutrients on the
disease process: iron, phosphate and glutamine, an amino
acid.
"There are three potential outcomes when a person is
exposed to a pathogen," Smith said. "First, the person
may not become infected. Second, the person develops a
short-term infection but gets better. Third, the person
develops a long-term infection or chronic disease."
The goal, he said, is to determine how dietary
nutrients affect both the growth of pathogens and the
ultimate outcome of pathogen exposure. In doing so, he
can find out what nutritional conditions will lead to
the first outcome, which is the best one.
For example, many older Americans may remember when
conventional wisdom told them to take iron supplements
to combat iron deficiency. However, recent research
suggests that too much iron in the diet might sometimes
supply a key nutrient that is required for the
development of disease, Smith said.
His colleague, Eugene Weinberg, a professor emeritus
at Indiana University, has researched the role of iron
in disease for two decades.
Smith earned bachelor's degrees in biology and
chemistry from KU and his doctorate in ecology from the
University of Minnesota. Marilyn Smith also earned
bachelor's degrees in microbiology and chemistry from KU
and a doctorate in microbiology from Minnesota.
The four Arizona State researchers involved in the
study are Yang Kuang, professor of mathematics; James J.
Elser, professor of life sciences; John D. Nagy, adjunct
professor of life sciences; and Timothy Newman,
associate professor of physics.
http://www.ur.ku.edu/
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